Brinker powers Penn

October 06, 2006|TOM WITHERSPOON Tribune Staff Writer

Troy Brinker keeps winning matches. He took away his opponent Frank Sunseri's powerful forehand, leaving him to beat himself by refusing to bide his time and volley with Brinker. The result went as planned. Brinker's win at No. 1 singles coupled with two doubles wins gave Penn its third straight regional championship with a 3-2 win over Culver Military Academy. Penn coach Rick Dukeshier's revamped playoff lineup paid off. Gautham Vaidyanathan and T.J. Snelson remained unbeaten at No. 1 doubles, and at No. 2 doubles, regular-season No. 2 singles player Andy Hansen with Ethan Leiter remained perfect in the postseason. The final ingredient was Brinker's 6-2, 6-1 strategic unraveling of Sunseri. Dukeshier's initial game plan for Brinker was to avoid Sunseri's forehand by hitting to his backhand. Sunseri, though, successfully wrapped around the ball to force the issue, hitting inside-out forehand winners for an early 2-0 lead. Down 2-1, Dukeshier talked with Brinker at the break. They switched the strategy to force Sunseri to attempt forehand winners on the run. Sunseri's inside-out forehand was taken out of play. "I think (Sunseri) said, 'There's no place on the court where I can get a winner,'" Dukeshier said. Sunseri, however, persistently searched for those winners anyway, slamming balls into the net all evening. On numerous occasions, Sunseri would smack a forehand to the corner, straining Brinker to even get his racket on it. But he would, tapping back a lob, leaving Sunseri to make mistakes by going for too much, plowing intended winners into the net. Vaidyanathan and Snelson continued their steady play. They are in-your-face doubles players, as the two stand side-by-side at the net, cutting off their opponents' shots soon after they sail over the net and slamming them back out of their reach. Andy Hansen stands tall on his serve, collapsing his racket onto the ball powered by his long frame. "He has a big serve and a big forehand," Dukeshier said of Hansen. "He's tough to handle." And he's just a freshman. His switch to No. 2 doubles for Penn's opening sectional match versus Marian had been intended for this CMA regional matchup. "He made the switch," Dukeshier said. "He adjusted." For CMA, the season did not end the way it was supposed to. Coach Alan Loehr took responsibility for his team coming up short. "Obviously, we had high expectations. I thought we didn't practice hard enough. And that's my fault," Loehr said. "I have to dictate the tempo of the practice. Everyone didn't do what they needed to do at practice, including the coach." Loehr paced the path behind the Leeper courts searching for an answer to his top player Sunseri's beaten mentality, hoping that he would gain momentum from one of his rare winners in the second set to turn it around. Sunseri, however, did not find peace of mind, as was evident just before match point when he slowly sidled up to the net, with a glazed stare downcast, to pick up one of his errant forehands caught by the net. Penn plays Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Leeper Park versus Warsaw in the opening round of semistate. In the individual sectional, Plymouth's No. 1 doubles team of Evan Birchmeier and Jacob Palmer defeated Griffin Jaques and Tommy Krcmaric, 6-0, 6-3, to advance to the next round, Oct. 14, in Indianapolis. SINGLES: 1. Troy Brinker (P) beat Frank Sunseri 6-2, 6-1; 2. Reggie Lemarroy (CMA) beat Mike Germano 6-0, 6-0; 3. Peter Ianello (CMA) beat Sean Donigan 6-0, 6-1. DOUBLES: 1. T.J. Snelson-Gautham Vaidyanathan (P) beat Omar Kattan-Shareef Kattan 6-2, 6-3; 2. Andy Hansen-Ethan Leiter (P) beat Nithin Reddy-Luis Troejo 6-3, 6-0. INDIVIDUAL SECTIONALS SINGLES: Thomas Kurtz (NorthWood) beat Austin Conrad (Concord) 6-7 (3), 6-0, 6-2. DOUBLES: Jay Sheets-Adam Mast (NorthWood) beat Chad Melcher-Bryant Henderson (Elkhart Memorial) 6-1, 6-2.